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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24963871">A Box of Scraps in a Cave</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame'>betheflame</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Fluff, M/M, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:43:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,648</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24963871</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Jarvis, report?” Tony said quietly. </p><p>“Master Peter has opened the box and lit the forge.” </p><p>“After eight hours of scowling at it, that’s quite a bit of progress,” Tony quipped.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes &amp; Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, Peter Parker &amp; Steve Rogers, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599898</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>187</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Team Fluff, Tony Stark Bingo 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Box of Scraps in a Cave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Fills bingos here, folks. Marie is a magical beta, as always. Any mistakes still in here are my fault and not hers. </p><p>_____<br/>Steve Tony Games<br/>Fluff Fill for "Avalon Protocol"<br/>Stark Men are Made of Iron + Soulmates + They were Roommates + You Gave Me a Home<br/>_____<br/>TSB<br/>betheflame - 3017<br/>Square: A1 - Photo of IM1 Suit (as seen in moodboard)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p> </p>
</div>
<hr/><p>“It’s time for phase one,” Tony said as Steve walked into the workshop.</p><p>“You’re sure,” Steve said slowly.</p><p>“Our kid is being a little shit, Steven, so yes, I’m sure.”</p><p>“I’m not questioning the timing, babe,” Steve said quickly, “it’s just that last night you weren’t sure you had all the supplies.”</p><p>“Oh, sorry, Buck and I went to the junkyard earlier, and he found the last few. So, yeah, it’s time.”</p><p>They were quiet for a minute, letting their decision hang between them.</p><p>“If this doesn’t work…”</p><p>“Then he enlists,” Steve shrugged. “And we let someone that Rhodey hand-selects put him through boot camp. Worked for me.”</p><p>“You were -”</p><p>“I was way more of a shit than Peter is being and I didn’t have the money behind me. I don’t know what’s gotten into him and I don’t like it, “ Steve said.</p><p>Tony nodded. “I know, I agree, it’s just…”</p><p>“I know, this is intense. Buck’s ready when we are, though.”</p><p>“Have him come at 0600,” Tony said, smiling sadly. “And I’ll start work on phase two.”</p>
<hr/><p>“Peter Piper,” Peter heard as he blinked his eyes rapidly at the light being shown in them. “Up and at ‘em.”</p><p>“Uncle Bucky?”</p><p>“The one and only. Pants, shoes, let’s go.”</p><p>“It’s six in the morning,” Peter said as he fumbled for his phone. Bucky quickly took it from his hand.</p><p>“Yeah, not gonna need that,” Bucky plucked it out of Peter’s hands. “Let’s go, adventure time. You, me, and Uncle Sam are heading to the cabin.”</p><p>“It’s the middle of winter,” Peter said.</p><p>“Perfect time to go to a lake cabin without central heating,” Bucky said cheerfully. “You have ten minutes to be in my car or I eat the donut we bought for you.”</p><p>“Boston cream?” Peter said hopefully.</p><p>“You better get your ass in the car to find out.”</p>
<hr/><p>They heard Peter banging around upstairs and Tony looked at Sam. “Thanks for doing this.”</p><p>“We were all young and dumb once, and none of his dumbassery has hit permanent consequences yet, so let’s nip it before it does,” Sam shrugged. “This is what family does, Stark.”</p><p>Peter stumbled down the stairs at that moment and he stared at his dads. “Pops? Dad? What is happening?”</p><p>Steve took a step forward and hugged Peter. “Your uncles will explain everything. See you in a few days.”</p><p>“A few days,” Peter yelled. “I have school on Monday!”</p><p>“Principal Danvers knows what’s happening,” Tony said. “We’ll see you in a few days, sweetheart.”</p><p>“Let’s go,” Bucky said, grabbing his godson by the collar affectionately. “You have two minutes to donut deadline.” He threw a wink back at Steve and Tony. “We’ll see you guys on the other side.”</p>
<hr/><p>The whole thing had been Bucky’s idea, actually. He knew Tony was working on the Avalon Protocol and was at the phase where he was rebuilding several rounds of the armor to test out what combination of tech would work best. They had all assumed nanites would work, but something went funky and Tony had started over at Mark VII.</p><p>
  <em>“What made you realize what ‘Stark Men Are Made of Iron’ really means,” Bucky asked one evening over barbeque.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tony blinked a few times. “The cave.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Bucky nodded. “When we rescued you, I remember three things. The first was that Rhodey wouldn’t let you out of his sight, the second was that Steve was glued to your side, and the third was that you kept muttering about not wasting your life as you slipped in and out of consciousness.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I remember realizing that Steve, my roommate who told me that he sold fish at wholesale to restaurants, was actually an elite CIA operative and that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be angry or horny about it,” Tony chuckled.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’ve always been a multitasker.” Steve smirked and took a sip of his beer.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“This whole suit rebuild thing -”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The Avalon Protocol,” Tony supplied.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It sounds like an episode of The Big Bang Theory,” Sam muttered.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“- the suit rebuild thing,” Bucky continued, “is to make sure that Peter will always have access to your brain, right? The point is that he’ll take over SI or use your knowledge for whatever he wants to use it for.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah,” Tony confirmed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Then, this serves two purposes,” Bucky said. “It pulls his head out of his ass, and it gives you a way to talk to him about it all.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m not dying, there’s nothing dramatic,” Tony said.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“But your lung capacity is 70% of what it should be and you’re missing a valve in your heart,” his husband said. “Being practical is just good parenting.”</em>
</p><p>And so Steve and Tony had agreed to Sam and Bucky’s plan. After they’d watched Peter get into Bucky’s car, the pair had wandered back to bed. Steve rubbed his hand absentmindedly over the soulmark on Tony’s hip as they cuddled in silence.</p><p>
  <em>“I’m so glad it was you,” Tony whispered, the way he usually did when Steve rubbed the mark.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“And me you, Tony,” Steve whispered back. His mark had started to burn when Tony was kidnapped and he hadn’t been able to figure out why. Finally, when his team had been placed under Rhodes’ command, Rhodes had seen him scratching at the mark.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s a tree, isn’t it,” Rhodes said.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Steve blinked at him. “A banyan tree, the soothsayers tell me.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“And they said there’s only one other person with the exact pattern, right?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Steve nodded, not sure where this was going.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Rhodey’s eyes were piercing. “Is there a pattern to it itching? Or burning?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No, but the soothsayers say that it’s whenever my soulmate’s life is under immediate threat.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Rhodey closed his eyes. “I’ve seen that mark on one other person and he is absolutely under immediate threat right now.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Steve’s eyes widened and his whole life clicked into place. “We have to fucking find him, Colonel.”</em>
</p><p>“We have a good life,” Tony whispered.</p><p>“We do, and we have a good son,” Steve said. “I know you think this is harsh - “</p><p>“It is,” Tony said, “but I think it’s the good kind of harsh. The parental kind of harsh. The kind that says we know he can be better than he’s being.”</p><p>Steve kissed the back of Tony’s neck. “I think so, too.”</p><p>“I’m a lot better than I was last night,” Tony said. “Buck and Sam have him now, and he’s going to be fine. They’ll make sure he’s fine, and that he comes back to us normal instead of Pod Person of Privilege we’ve been dealing with.”</p><p>“I think so,” Steve affirmed.</p><p>“So can we maybe make pancakes and binge some <em>30 Rock</em>?” Tony asked. “I’m open to other television suggestions, but not dessert ones.”</p><p>Steve laughed. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”</p><p>“I’m not a genius for nothing.”</p>
<hr/><p>“I have to do what?” Peter howled.</p><p>“You have to build the suit,” Bucky said. “We’ll be in the main house. Your dad said you’re fine to use the forge by yourself and Jarvis is monitoring everything for safety, but he’s completely on mute and you have no access to the internet to do the task. You have everything in here that you need and you have three days.”</p><p>“That’s insane,” Peter sputtered.</p><p>“And yet,” Sam said, “your dad did the same thing, with terrorists trying to kill him, and he claims you’re at least ten times smarter than he is, so I’d think you could get this done in two.”</p><p>Peter scowled at them. “I have a date with Yvonne tomorrow night.”</p><p>“Well, she’ll have to learn to live with disappointment,” Bucky responded, knowing full well that Tony and Steve would be thrilled if that girl disappeared from Peter’s life completely.</p><p>Peter blinked at the boxes and then back at Bucky, who met his confusion with an even glare.</p><p>“Kid, I love you, but you’re being a little shit, okay? You know it, your dads know it, your aunts and uncles and cousins know it, and none of us are sure what crawled up your ass that made you start living like the billionaire heir that you are, but knock it the fuck off, okay? Because I’ll tell you right now, you won’t see a dime of your dad’s money if he can’t trust SI to you, and I know he won’t trust all those jobs and all those lives to you if you can’t live a life worthy of that decision,” Bucky said.</p><p>“I’m allowed to be a teenager and have fun,” Peter snarked back.</p><p>“Sure, absolutely,” Bucky said. “But when your Pops and I were teenagers and we wanted to have fun, we managed to do so without taking a $45M yacht out for a joyride and crashing it.”</p><p>“That was Flash’s fault,” Peter protested weakly.</p><p>“I don’t really give a shit,” Bucky shrugged. “It was <em>your</em> ass I hauled out of that police station and if you weren’t an utterly privileged child, you’d be in the system right now. If you were a black boy, you’d be dead because they would have shot you without double checking and you know it. You want the privileges of wealth and power? Then you get to earn it.”</p><p>Peter started to protest again, but Bucky was already walking out of the barn. “Three days, Peter. Cot's in the usual place and you’ll get meals delivered. We love you.”</p><p>“That isn’t what it feels like,” Peter screamed after him and Bucky smiled to himself.</p><p>Well, kid, just wait until the center of your entire universe gets a personality transplant and you no longer recognize your own kid. Then you’ll see this is exactly what love feels like.</p>
<hr/><p>“Jarvis, report?” Tony said quietly.</p><p>“Master Peter has opened the box and lit the forge.”</p><p>“After eight hours of scowling at it, that’s quite a bit of progress,” Tony quipped.</p>
<hr/><p>“Jarvis,” Peter said quietly. “Can I ask you a question?”</p><p>The AI was silent and Peter wondered if what he was about to request was outside of the stated parameters.</p><p>“Can you show me news clips from when Dad was missing?”</p><p>Instead of an answer, they started to play. When Peter was ten, his dads had explained to him who their family was and how important his last name was in the world. They’d shown him a few press conferences, but they’d never really dug into why the arc reactor was keeping Dad alive or what had happened to get it there.</p><p>He needed to know <em>now</em>.</p>
<hr/><p>“Sergeant Barnes,” Jarvis intoned quietly as Sam and Bucky played their fifth game of Scrabble. “I believe Master Peter requires your presence. He is asking questions about Sir’s trip to Afghanistan.”</p><p>Sam snorted. “J, I love how delicate you are, truly.”</p><p>“On my way, J,” Bucky replied and heaved himself off of the couch. He gave his husband a quick kiss and wandered out to the barn.</p><p>Where he found Peter sitting on the cot, watching CNN clips on four different holograms.</p><p>“Hey buddy,” Bucky said, loudly enough to be heard over the din. “J said you have some questions?”</p><p>Peter nodded, but didn’t take his eyes off the screen. “Dad basically died, didn’t he.”</p><p>It wasn’t a question, and it wasn’t being asked by a spoiled manchild. Peter’s voice was steady and his tone was open. Bucky let out a breath he hadn't realized he’d been holding.</p><p>“Basically, yeah, and this man that none of us ever met saved him for all of us,” Bucky replied.</p><p>“You didn’t know Dad then, right? Rescuing him was how you met?”</p><p>Bucky sat next to Peter on the cot. “Yup. While your dad was missing, Rhodey figured out that he and Steve were soulmates, so I knew I wasn’t rescuing just anybody.”</p><p>“Well, they don’t send elite teams to rescue just anybody,” Peter replied.</p><p>“Yeah, but like I gave a fuck about your dad’s net worth? You think I ever have?” Bucky snorted and peered at his godson. “Your dad wanted you to stay in public school, you know.”</p><p>Peter’s eyebrows shot up but he said nothing.</p><p>“You’re at the academy because Stevie wanted you there. He wanted you to know how to talk to people with money and make connections with alumni and all the other stuff that he and I never got to do. He wanted you to be challenged both intellectually and emotionally and he hoped that Brightside would be the place to do that.” Bucky paused. “But you’re learning a lot of the wrong lessons.”</p><p>“I can’t figure out the wiring to make his legs move,” Peter said, gesturing to the half-finished suit. “The deadline is in eight hours and I can’t make it work. I’ve tried everything I can think of, but I can’t make it work.” His voice was laced with frustration and Bucky had to stop himself from ruffling the boy’s hair.</p><p>“What’s your dad always say about hitting inventing road blocks?”</p><p>“That’s when I ask for help,” Peter intoned. “But you guys told me I had to figure this one out on my own.”</p><p>Bucky smiled. “We did, but you’ve been working on that circuitry for about six hours, I think we can call in some reinforcements.”</p><p>And as though Jarvis read Bucky’s mind, Tony’s face was on the screen within seconds.</p><p>“So what’s the problem, Petey?” Tony said, nonchalantly.</p><p>Peter blinked furiously. “You gonna help me?”</p><p>“Peter, when have you ever asked my help and I’ve said no,” Tony asked.</p><p>“When I was being a dumbass,” Peter replied, his voice small, “and I stole a boat.”</p><p>“Are you being a dumbass right now?”</p><p>Peter shook his head. “I get it, Dad, I get what you’re doing here. If I can’t be a Stark-Rogers without the bank account, then I’m not a Stark-Rogers. You’re right. I get it. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Good,” Tony said and then he peered at Bucky. “Buckaroo, we got it from here. He can come home whenever he wants.”</p><p>“I’m not leaving until I finish this,” Peter said. “You said I had to walk out of here in the suit to get back in the car, and that’s what I’m doing.”</p><p>Bucky didn’t even have to look at Tony to know the other man had tears in his eyes.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>Five Years Later</em>
</p><p>“So this is everything,” Peter clarified. “Your patents, your ideas, your everything.”</p><p>“It’s not <em>everything</em> everything,” Tony smirked. “I didn’t think you’d want some of my memories with Pops -”</p><p>“Gross.”</p><p>“- but in terms of you understanding SI? Yes. I upload relevant information each night, so it’s up to date.”</p><p>“Like a pensieve,” Peter muttered.</p><p>“You know, I really like that girl of yours, but that she brought that wizarding nonsense into your life irks me,” Tony replied.</p><p>“Oh, Pops read those books to me behind your back years ago,” Peter said with a grin.</p><p>“I am offended.” Tony clutched at his chest in mock outrage. “The very <em>idea</em> that you two would conspire against me wounds me to my core.”</p><p>“Happened literally every day since you gave me a home,” Peter said with a smile. He leaned over and kissed Tony on the cheek. “Now, I have a date with MJ and then Auntie Pepper wants to see me to go over the Foundation donation data, so I won’t be home until around nine.”</p><p>“You’re an adult, Petey, you don’t have to check with me,” Tony said.</p><p>“Yeah, but my pops raised me to be polite and communicate and I don’t want to slip into old habits and find myself building another robot in a barn,” Peter said with a wink.</p><p>“You loved it,” Tony said.</p><p>“It saved me,” Peter replied. “Of course I loved it. And I love you. See you later!”</p><p>“Later, gator,” Tony replied and rubbed the spot Peter kissed absentmindedly. Man, did he love his kid.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/betheflame1">Twitter</a> or <a href="http://betheflame.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a> for more on these yahoos. You can also submit prompts and cajole me into writing faster - it usually works. If you're on Discord, I'm definitely there, too, and probably hanging in the <a href="https://discord.gg/z5WSqbS">Put on the Suit Stony Server</a> or the <a href="http://www.discord.com/4NbA7wy">PotsCast Podcast server </a>. Oh! And FestiveFerret and I have a <a href="http://www.podonthesuit.com">fandom podcast</a> if you're so inclined.<br/><br/></p></blockquote></div></div>
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